Nandanoori Mukesh Kumar played 307 international matches for India and scored 80 goals in a career that ran from 1992 to 2000. He played at three Olympics, two World Cups and two Asian Games, won Asian Games gold in 1998 and captained the national side. He is one of the finest players to come out of Hyderabad.
Name: Nandanoori Mukesh Kumar
Born: 16 April 1970, Hyderabad
Sport: Hockey
Position: Forward and midfielder
Hyderabad roots
Mukesh Kumar was born in Hyderabad on 16 April 1970, the son of Nandanoori Venkat Rao. Team-mates knew him as Murali. He came through the city’s hockey and made his senior international debut in early 1992. He played mainly on the right side of attack and in midfield, and he was known for setting up goals as much as scoring them, with a hard hit when he got the chance. Early in his India career he was also used as the pusher at penalty corners, a job he practised for two or three years.
Three Olympics
His first Olympics came at Barcelona in 1992 under Pargat Singh’s captaincy. India finished seventh and Mukesh scored four goals. At Atlanta in 1996 India came eighth and he scored twice, and at Sydney in 2000 India finished seventh again, with Mukesh scoring two more. Those were hard years for Indian hockey at the Olympics, but he was a regular in the side throughout.
World Cups and Asian Games
He played at the 1994 World Cup in Sydney, where India finished fifth and he scored three goals, and at the 1998 World Cup in Utrecht, where India came ninth and he scored four. He won Asian Games silver at Hiroshima in 1994 and gold at Bangkok in 1998, when India beat South Korea in the final to win the title for the first time since 1966. He also played at the 1995 Champions Trophy in Berlin.
Captain and after
Mukesh went on to captain India before stepping away from international hockey after Sydney 2000. He worked for Indian Airlines and has since been involved in coaching, offering his time to school hockey programmes in Telangana. He is married to Nidhi Khullar, also a hockey player, and they have two children.
He received the Arjuna Award in 1995 and the Padma Shri in the early 2000s.
Career record and honours
- 307 international matches, 80 goals
- Olympic appearances: Barcelona 1992 (4 goals), Atlanta 1996 (2 goals), Sydney 2000 (2 goals)
- World Cup appearances: Sydney 1994, Utrecht 1998
- Asian Games gold medal: Bangkok 1998
- Asian Games silver medal: Hiroshima 1994
- Arjuna Award (1995)
- Padma Shri
